These nine short folktales feature stories about traditional holidays celebrated from Czechoslovakia, Russia, France, the United States, and other parts of the world.

Holy days, or holidays, are celebrated by cultures from around the globe. These are times when people experience the energy and spirit that comes when a day is lifted out of commonplace. Sometimes that spirit is one of love and goodwill; other times it's a sense of renewal or even giddy fear.

Holidays are unique because we find unexpected occurrences in everyday routine. Here are nine holiday stories, with descriptions of the days they celebrate, including: New Year's Day ("The Twelve Months"), Halloween ("Whooooo"), Hannukah ("Babushka"), and Christmas ("Christina's Christmas Garden").

Pleasant DeSpain Bio:

Pleasant DeSpain has a most unusual but true name and an equally unusual but true profession – writer and storyteller. He travels the world collecting, researching, writing and retelling traditional tales from native cultures. Born in Colorado, he wrote his first original story at age eight. It was published as “The Mystery Artist” in 1996. Pleasant taught speech-literature-drama for six years at three universities, and wrote-produced-hosted an award-winning TV show called “Pleasant Journeys” on KING TV, Seattle. Now, the author of eighteen award-winning, multicultural story collections and picture books, published by August House, has a home in Troy, NY and frequently travels to spend extended periods of time in Thailand. Pleasant continues to travel the world having amazing adventures. While living in Thailand he has continued to collect more stories and is working on a new book.